First Chapter - First Paragraphs

I saw this on Bibliophile by the Sea's blog here: http://bibliophilebythesea.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/first-chapter-first-paragraph-tuesday_19.html

I'm not sure if it's something I would do as regularly as once a week, but here's the first paragraphs of the book I'm reading at the moment.

I'm reading The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson.

Monday, 2nd May 2005

You might think he could have made up his mind earlier, and been man enough to tell the others of his decision.  But Allan Karlsson had never been given to pondering things too long.

So the idea had barely taken hold in the old man’s head before he opened the window of his room on the ground floor of the Old People’s Home in the town of Malmköping, and stepped out – into the flowerbed.

Would you read on?

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

Publisher: Gollancz
£FREE  (Christmas Present)
ISBN 0575079673

What can I say? Scott Lynch is fast becoming a favourite author.

This is the second instalment of the Gentlemen Bastards sequence, and our favourite anti-heroes are yet again embroiled in an increasingly convoluted series of misadventures. This time they get to be pirates, and while the novelty of Locke's world has worn off a little and Tal Verrar is not so interesting a place Camorr, it is just as entertaining. There's plenty of laughs, and lots of action to be had.

If I gave Lies 5 stars, then this would get 4 and a half. The difference being that you never really feared for Locke and Jean's lives like you did in Lies. In Lies I felt that truly anything could happen, but in this instalment I felt that Locke and Jean would probably survive together. I was intrigued by the teaser of Jean turning on Locke, and I spent most of the novel thinking about how what I was reading at that point in time might lead to that situation.

There is a prequel or two due for release, as well as Book 3, and I am eager to get my hands on them. Watch this space.

What more can I say?

A friend sent me this on facebook and I absolutely love it and couldn't agree more.  Unfortunately I can't make out the signature in the top left to give the artist proper acknowledgement.

The Howling Miller by Arto Paasilinna

Publisher: Mr B's
£11.69 (special edition hardback)
Bought from Mr B's Emporium
ISBN 9780857869661

I've heard only very good things about this book, and was not disappointed myself.  As a friend from book club said on her blog site - for a bookshop to organise their own special edition print run it must be something special!
This is a wonderful story about a miller called Gunnar Huttunan who moves to a small village.  At first the village are pleased to have a new miller in town and like what he's doing to rebuild the dilapidated old millhouse, but soon things turn sour when his eccentric ways (howling at night and imitating animal behaviour) set him at odds with the rest of the villagers, and piece by piece things get worse for our anti-hero.

It's tempting to tell you about what happens to him, but I will try to resist, and instead tell you that this is a story about friendship, love, acceptance and freedom.  It's easy to identify with Gunnar, despite his eccentricities, and the descriptions of the escalating war between Gunnar and the villagers affects you more than you would expect.

The story was written in Finnish and translated to English via a French translation, so it's hard to say for certain what effect this has, however it reads very well, and you do get the impression that not a word is wasted.  I heartily encourage you to give this one a chance.

At the time of publishing this I can't upload the picture of my cover... hopefully I can do this soon.

Merry Christmas and all the trimmings.

Merry Christmas! It's a little late I know, but in our house we all got struck down with a cold over Christmas and are just beginning to emerge from the flu-fog.

I hope Father Christmas was generous with you, I got several books, and all but one was from my wish list. The one that wasn't must have been a mistake as its about 'daughters' and as far as I know Father Christmas is not my parent. I tried reading it but it made me cry, so it will have to wait til I'm feeling better and a little more stable ;-)

I haven't even felt able to pick up a book, and that was my main plan for this Christmas - to make a serious dent in my to be read pile. I tried yesterday with a copy of Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler, but read a page and a half and couldn't remember a thing I'd read. I'd been reading and re-reading the same page for half an hour before I had to admit defeat.

I'm going to try again today with The Howling Miller by Arto Paasilinna. Wish me luck.

As for the new year, I wish you and yours a very happy healthy 2013!